San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-09-21
TEXAS AND HOW SHE is.
A Northern Newspaper interviewer
Catches a Posted Texan.

A DroVers journal representative h. d
quite talk with Mr.. X. X. Claridge,
editor of the Texas Stockman. the result
OF which will be found in substance be-
low.
GRATEFUL RAINS AND BETTER PROSPECTS.
Mr.. Claridge said: The late heavy
rains throughout Texas have insured
| abundant feed aud water this winter,
and came In time TO do the cotton crop
a great deal Of good. As result, the
| stOOkmen, farmers, business people, and
! in fact. every bOdY, feel greatly encour-
| aged over the outlook. True, values are
low, but the cotton, the wool, the beef
and the mutton are cash commodities
and even O little money goes good
way these times.
sBEEP AND WOOL.
Wool brings good price, and stock
sheep have advanced 1874 per cent. In IL
months. The sheepBen having reduced
| their expenses To the minimum. are
making money. They get good prices
| for mutton. Ii seems strange that 1t
| should be SO, but only last week in this
market n shipment OF Texas grass NUT
tons, averaging rs pounds, sold at 50 50
per hundred pounds, while shipment
| OF grass beeyes from Texas only brought
| 50 55. How do | account for this? Well,
| 1t is hard to account for. The people
are evidently
EATING MORE MUTTON
than formerly, and then sheep are fstter
| this season than for years, while great
many Texas cattle are thin. The tend
ency in Texas is to keep both sheep and
| cattle, and great many exchanges OF
sheep for cattle and vice versa are Oc.
| curing. And while, at present, sheep
are the most profitable, the feeling is
| strong as to the future of cattle, and
therefore. in these exchanges, the cattle
go at fair values.
CLOSING THE TRAIL AN ADVANTAGE.
| | hardly know whether to be amused
| or dsgusted at the idea which seems to
prevail in the north and east that the
stoppage of the drive to the northwest
does the bottle and cork act for the
Texas cattle business. Instead of harm,
it is the particular thing that was
| needed to place the stock business OF
| Texas upon safe basis. There has
been too much "wild cat" in the west
ern stock business, anyhow, and the
| stopping of the cattle drive knocks 1t
out of Texas. How? By compelling
| our stOckmen to mature and fatten their
cattle at home, thereby saving both the
driving and the maturing profit. There
used to bean idea,yOu know. that Texas,
while great breeding ground. is a poor
| feeding ground.
| TEXAS CAN FEED AS WELL AS BREED.
This idea has been exploded. As re-
| CARDS the feed resources of Texas, the
developments during the past two or
three years have been a revelation to
even myself who am regarded as some
what of crank upon the subject OF
feed farming in Texas. Beside the
great beef ration, cotton seed meal. and
the nutritious johnson grass "ith It's
| certain and superb yield, enough in
| themselves to settle the feed question in
Texas, we have a great many other
| valuable feed plants that are no longer
experiments. But perhaps the most re-
| markable, if not the most important dis
| cOvery that has been made in the feed
| line in Texas Is the feeding value OF
nopal or
PRICKLY PEAR,
Which grows so abundantly in many
portions of Western and Southern Tex
as. Fed in connection with Cotton-seed
meal it forms perfect beef and mutton
producing ration, and this winter 10 ,OC0
head OF cattle, to say nothing of the
sheep, will be fattened upon this feed.
DR.. A. K. CarOthers, of San Antonio,
who fed the pear extensively last win
| ter, will feed 5000 steers this winter. 1t
makes three-year- old lOng-hOrn aver
| age ten hundred and over in Chicago
| and sell within 20 cents per hundred Of
the heavy weights Of Illinois.
Yes. the stUckmen of Texas are fenc-
| ing their lands into pastures, extending
their water supply, opening feed farms,
buying
FLOODED BULLS, STATIONS AND JACKS:
in other words, gOirg out Of the old
range system with its pistol "tOting,"
brand blOtching cOucOmitants, and into
| the stock farm system with the safety,
| comfort, and development which it
brings.
And they are not only beginning to
grow their yearlings into beef, but they
are setting about establishing home
| market for the same. At Columbus they
! are killing lC9 beeves per day, which go
| to Europe by steamer especially fitted
up for the purpose. a syndicate has
lately leased the
VICTORIA REFRIGERATOR PLANT,
| and will begin operations at once. Hous-
| ton has donated grounds and subscribed
| $3.50, 600 in cash for the establishment of
| q slaughter plant at that place, and ask
| the stOckmen to subscribe a like sum in
beef and mutton, and when | left Texas
| a little over week ago, this amount
was nearly made up, so that it Is safe to
| say that before another year Texas will
afford market tor her own stock at
least, and pocket the enormous profit
that has heretofore gone to the railroads,
to say nothing Of the saving in shrink
| age and other incidentals to the long rail
haul to northern and eastern points.
And with her meat matured and mar
keted at home, it does seem that there
| isa
FAIRLY BRIGHT FUTURE
in store for Texas. And while these
| things would have come to her sooner or
later, the guarantees and freeZe-Outs of
other states and territories, resulting in
an embargo against the drive from Tex
as, have hurried matters; and hence 1t is
that what Texas stockmen for time re-
garded as a great misfortune they have
come to consider as an unmiXed bless
ing. But the strangest thing OF all is
| that, with cattle as much below their in
| trinsi0 value az they were above it few
| years ago, and with the business OF
handling them changing so rapidly to a
safer system, there is
so LITTLE INCLINATION TO INVEST
in Texas cattle. But there is more in
terest of late. and some heavy deals in
| Texas land and stock are reported late
| ly. Some loDg-headed Texans who
loaned their money at II per cent. when
| the cattle boom was on, are reaching
out for that money now, and buying cat
tie for ten dollars or less, that were